1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of slot machines such as jackpot machines and other individual gambling machines of the type found in casinos.
2. Description of the Related Art
Slot machines that can receive or send electronic fund transfers corresponding to the bets or winnings of a gambler are known. These electronic transfers have the advantage that large sums of money need not be carried or handled.
Document EP-A-0,360,613 thus describes an electronic system for transferring value units between a slot machine and a chip card storing the value unit account of a gambler.
The document describes in particular a special slot machine including a transcriber that transcribes value units onto a chip card.
One drawback of such a slot machine including an electronic coin meter is that it cannot record and check transfers and gambling operations involving electronic money.
Secured systems that control a group of machines, in which the machines are networked with a central computer handling all the accounting information, are known. The machines receive the electronic fund transfers solely from the central computer.
However, the gamblers are no longer free to carry out their gambling operations in isolation, as the initial bets and the winnings are recorded in the central computer by an operator, usually a casino cashier.
One general drawback of these slot machine systems is that they cannot adapt to any type of payment meansxe2x80x94bank cards, coins, bills, tokens, or centralized electronic transfers, depending on current trends or the preferences of the gamblers.
One goal of the invention is to create a device for a network of slot machines that adapts to various methods of payment while allowing the gambling operations to be readily checked by a central processing unit.
Another goal of the invention is to create a device for a slot machine able to make electronic transfers for networking these machines with a central processing unit.
These goals are achieved according to the invention by a slot machine able to handle electronic transfers, an electronic coin meter transmitting electronic transfers, and the central processing unit supervising the monetary and data transfers being interconnected by a data transfer switching and coordination device, of the multiplexer type, that switches transfers of data or value units from the slot machine either to the electronic coin meter or to the central processing unit.
Electronic coin meters can thus be inserted into a network of slot machines with no modification in the data transfer network. In addition, the slot machines connectable individually to an electronic coin meter can thus be networked with a central processing unit.
Advantageously, the invention provides for alternating exchanges of data between the slot machine and the coin meter with exchanges of data between the slot machine and the central processing unit.
Various types of coin meters, hereinafter called value unit transfer elements, can also be connected to a machine, and the device translates the data transmission protocol used by the coin meter according to the protocol usable by the machine.
According to the invention, a device for transferring data is provided, intended for insertion into a network of slot machines provided with value unit transfer elements communicating via a data transfer link with a central processing unit, characterized in that the device has a multichannel link, a first channel being assigned to the network data transfer with the central processing unit, a second channel being assigned to a slot machine, a third channel being assigned to a value unit transfer element, and in that the device has means for switching data transfers enabling main data transmissions to be made between two main channels and enabling secondary data transmissions to be made between a main channel and a secondary channel.
Advantageously, means for coordinating data transfers place at least one channel on standby when a transmission is made between two other channels.
Advantageously, the coordination means allow main transmissions and secondary transmissions to be made simultaneously, the secondary transmissions being intercalated between the main transmissions.
The invention also provides for a data transfer network having at least one slot machine, at least one value unit transfer element, and a data transfer link communicating with a central processing unit, characterized by having means for switching and coordinating data transfers that enable data to be transmitted between the slot machine and the value unit transfer element and data to be transmitted between the slot machine and the network link.
Implementation of the invention will be better understood by reading the description and drawings hereinbelow, provided as nonlimiting examples; in the attached drawings: